Improvement in corsets



W. THOMAS. Corset.

No; 212,411. Patented Feb. 18, 1879-.

F\c..l.

N.PETERS. YHOTO-UTHOGRAFNER. WASHINGTON. D c.

WILLIAM THOMAS, OF LONDON, ENGLAND.

IMPROVEMENT IN coRsETs- Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 212,411, dated February 18, 1879 application filed December 17,1878.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, IVILLIAM THOMAS, of N o. 128 Cheapside, in the city of London, England, have invented an Improvement in Stays and-Corsets and do hereby declare that the following description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, hereinafter referred to, forms a full and exact specification of the same, wherein I have set forth the nature and principles of my said improvement, by which my invention may be distinguished from others of a similar class, together with such parts as I claim and desire to secure by Lettcrs Patentthat is to say:

, In stays and corsets of present construction inconvenience is often experienced, more paricnlarly in the case of females of full habit, on account of the bones that extend longitudinally, or in some cases diagonally, along the corset, sticking out in an unsightly manner at the lower end, and affording the wearer little or no support on the abdomen, where support is desired, and such support is sometimes sought to be attained by putting in heavy or stifi'steels, that press inj uriously upon the body.

Now, according to my present inventionIprovide the stay or corset at the lower part, where it fits over the abdomen, with a number of bones, of steel or whalebone or other suitable material, running in a lateral direction parallel, or nearly so, to the bottom edge of the corset, and extending from the edge of the busk to any required distance toward the hips, the usual vertical bones in the upper part being, by preference, stopped short where they meet the topmost of the said parallel bones.

By the above arrangement the said parallel bones, while afiording greater pliability to the corset, so as to enable it to adapt itself perfectly to the rounded form of the abdomen, at the same time afiord considerable support to the latter, as both ends of the bones are held securely in a lateral direction by the material of the corset into which they are fitted-the corset-busks and longitudinal side bones. The said ends may be further held and protected, if required, by making them pass underneath the edge of the busk at the oneend and under a vertical steel fitted to the corset at the other end. The said bones may either be all of the same strength, or the middle ones may be made of greater strength than the upper and lower ones. They are, by preference, made with a permanent curvature, to correspond with the rounded form of the abdomen and in order to make the corset fit still closer to such rounded form, I in some cases cut one or more wedge-shaped pieces out of the partof the corset that receives the said bones, so that, in sewing the edges of such out parts together, a concave form is imparted to such part of the corset, into which the said parallel curved bones are then fitted.

Figure 1 of the drawings shows a perspec tive view of a corset constructed according to my before-described invention.

The longitudinal bones in the upper part, A, are stopped. short at the line a, from which point the lower part, B, has transverse bones b I) inserted into it, which run, in a slanting direction parallel, or nearly so, with the lower edge of the corset. The one end of these bones being attached by means of the material into which they are inserted to the edge of the material inclosing the busk (J, while the other ends thereof are attached to the edge of the material inclosin g the longitudinal side bones, D, it will be seen that while they are effectually confined in a transverse direction, so as to fit closely to the shape of the wearer, and to afl'ord the necessary support over the abdomen, they at the same time obviate the inconvenience experienced with the ordinary longitudinal bones, the lower ends of which frequently stick out in an unsightly manner when the figure is upright, while they are pressed into the abdomen when the wearer stoops or sits. With the transverse bones arranged according to my invention, the lower part of the corset beyond the bush is free to fold longitudinally along the lines of stitching betweenthe bones when the figure is bent in stooping or sitting, so that no inconvenient pressure can be caused thereby.

As before stated, the rounded form of the part B can be obtained by cutting wedgeshaped pieces out of the material at one or more points and sewing the edges of the material together; but in order to avoid the seams that would be produced by this means, and also to simplify the construction, I prefer to make the part 13 as a flat piece, as shown at Fig. 2, with such wedge-shaped piece cut out only at the edge I) nearest the husk, whereby it is made to slope away from the latter, as shown, so that when such edge is brought up to and sewed beneath the edging c at the side of the busk the part B will assume the desired convex or rounded form.

The parts A and B may either be formed of one and the same piece of material, the part A being provided with the usual breast-gores, as indicated at Fig. 2; or the part B may be a separate piece from A, which in that case may also be formed of separate pieces, so shaped and sewed together as to give the required configuration to the corset without the usual gores, as indicated at Fig. 1; or, again, the entire corset may be woven to shape in one piece in the well-known manner.

Figs. 3 and 4 show diagrammatically the mode of weaving employed for this purpose. The warp a a being wound on separate bobbins, a certain number of sl1oot-threads,b I), are carried right through, after which, by means of the jacquard, the shoot is gradually reduced in length, so as to produce a bulged outline of the weaving, as shown. By means of a curved sinking-board the fabric is thendepressed in the middle, so as to bring the curved outline formed by the shoot into a straight line, as indicated at Fig. 4, and the above operation is repeated, and so on, thus producing a fabric of the requisite bulging form. The securing together of the double fabric at intervals for the reception of the transverse bones may, in

this case, be done in the weaving, instead of by stitching. I do not claim this mode of weaving' the stays, as it is a well-known method.

I am aware that corsets have been 'constructed with transverse bones in their abdominal portions; but these bones have not had their ends arranged along and supported by the busks and longitudinal bones, but are supported only by the flexible fabric of which the corset is composed, and are not therefore held in a fixed position, while their intermediate portions conform to the shape of the ab- ,domen, as is the case in my corset, and they,

of course, are not efficient in supporting the abdomen.

I do not claim, broadly, a corset with transverse bones in its abdominal portions.

Having thus described the nature of my invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I claim- A corset having the abdominal portion B B provided with incased transverse bones, extending from the busks O to the longitudinallyarranged incased bones D, whereby said busks and longitudinally arranged bones support and hold in position the ends of said transverse bones, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I'have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses this 25th day of Novem* ber, 1878.

WILLIAM THOMAS.

Witnesses:

CHAS. CHAMBERS, JNo. I. M. MILLARD. 

